Chapter 9: The messenger

The day after the celebration the queen sat on her throne, rubbing her forehead and cursing her hangover from the festivities of the final night of the celebration. Kim and Shego loomed around the throne still exhausted from the night before. Just then a soldier burst into the throne room, Kim and Shego jumped to attention preparing to draw their swords.

"Majesty! An intruder as been caught in the town!" She gasped as she bent over to catch her breath. Kim and Shego relaxed. The queen winced at the commotion.

"Why does this need my attention?" She asked wirily.

"Majesty, it's a man. He claims to be a messenger!" The soldier said hastily.

"So get his message and send him on his way." The queen said in a harsh tone.

"Majesty, he claims the message is to be presented to you only."

The queen growled and finally gave in. "Fine, drag his sorry hide in here."

Kim and Shego eyed each other warily before preparing for the messenger. Moments later two guards roughly pushed and prodded a tall slim man into the room and pushed him to his knees before the queen.

"Why have you breeched our walls?" The queen demanded in a fierce tone. The man flinched and then straightened his demeanor.

"I suppose you are the queen of this tribe of delicate women?" The man replied with a cocky grin.

Every woman in the throne room growled and sneered at that his lack of respect. The queen only narrowed her sight on the man. "You would do well to hold such insults amongst a room of warriors." At this the guards holding him in place rested their hands on their swords.

The man gulped and reached into his bag. "I bring a message from my king; he has traveled far from Greece and graciously offers you a place in his ever growing kingdom. You will be richer than ever imagined, your power will see no end and your…domain will be feared throughout the known world. That is, if, you pledge your allegiance and troops when needed in times of war." He pulled out a scroll and stood to approach her. Kim jumped from her position with unseen speed, sword drawn to the man's throat.

"I'll take that." She said smoothly. She took the scroll from his hand and backed away toward the queen. The man had a scared and blissful stare on his face as he watched Kim hand over the scroll and return to her position.

The queen read the scroll then motioned for Shego to approach. She handed her the scroll and whispered something in her ear. Shego nodded and stood next to the queen, a wide grin pressed on her face.

"I'd like to start off by saying, how dare you. You come into my territory, my town, and my palace with this? You promise riches? We have all the riches we need. You promise unending power? I have no desire to become a greedy sow like all men when they are given power. And as for my nation being feared throughout the known world? We are a peaceful people and have no need to be known to the world, it ruins the element of surprise. But I urge you to give your king a message."

As if on cue Shego crumpled the scroll in her hand and ignited the paper. All that was left of this action was a pile of ashes; she strolled over to the man and placed them in his hand. The man looked terrified and insulted at this action.

"You…you dare refuse the king's gracious offer?" He demanded.

"No." The queen barked. "I refuse to be the king's pawn. If he had given me a fair offer I would have considered it but that was an abomination. I will not have my people chained to the rule of a man while they are raped of everything they love."

The man glared at her. "I shall take your message to my king." He forced through gritted teeth. The queen nodded to the guards.

"That is fine, but the penalty for any man to enter my domain without invitation is severe. I hope you can find your king blind." With that the man was dragged from the throne room, he struggle to free himself but could not break the guard's strong hold.

Kim turned to the queen with an air of urgency about her. "You know this could be an act of war."

The queen nodded. "I know. But it would have been an act of submission to take that ridiculous offer."

Her tone was final. She stood from her throne and motioned a guard over. "Find Bana and tell her I need her immediately. We have a serious situation on our hands." The guard nodded and ran off. She turned to Kim and Shego. "I'm going to need you two as well."

888

The queen sat at a huge marble table with Kim and Shego on either side of her. Bana stormed in and took a seat at the other end. The queen let out a heavy sigh and looked around the table. "I need you three to quickly and discreetly take a massage to our sister tribes. Bana you will go to the East, Shego you will go to the west and Kim, I want you to go to the Gargareans. Each of you are to take the message directly to the leader of each tribe, no one else is to see that message." Everyone nodded in understanding. "Now saddle your horses and pack supplies you have a long journey ahead of you."

All three women stood, Kim and Bana left the room. Shego eyed the queen for a moment. "I gotta ask you something." Shego said suddenly. The queen nodded. "I just want to know. What is the story with you and Bana."

"That's an odd question to ask in this time." The queen remarked. Shego shrugged her shoulders. "Bana has been in her position since the queen before me. When she died I was chosen by the council, I was only twelve at the time. I'm eighteen now."

"Why did they choose you?" Shego cut in.

"The queen before me was my mother; I was always at her side. She showed me everything I needed to know about being a just and fair ruler. The people loved her with all their hearts, when she died the council saw fit that I step in. They chose Bana to tutor me in the position until I came of age. She was like my best friend…" She seemed to trail off from there. Shego was going to push her to go on but the queen stood from her chair. "Now is not the time for stories, go and ready yourself. You have a long distance to travel in a short amount of time."

Shego reluctantly stood and left the room. She made a note to find out the rest of the story when she had the time. When she entered the hall she was greeted by a familiar presence. Ariel leaned against the wall quietly examining her dagger, when Shego passed by she pushed off and fell into stride with Shego's steps.

"Well we meet again." Shego said as they walked.

"The general instructed me to show you your horse." Ariel replied in a cheerful tone. Shego gave no reaction to the woman's cheerful tone. "I took the liberty of saddling him, and packing fresh supplies of food and water for you."

Shego stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it you want in return for that?" In her opinion no one ever did anything just out of the goodness of their own heart, unless that someone was Kim Possible. Ariel only stared at her innocently.

"I'll collect my payment when you return. Now this way, from the looks of things you have to leave in a hurry."

888

Shego was lead to the stables near the back of the palace. She wasn't surprised to see Kim mounted atop large horse. Shego found herself face to face with her horse, a huge grey horse that seemed to tower over her.

When she was settled in the saddle Ariel gave her farewells and left the stable. Bana strolled in and handed the women each a sealed scroll before mounting her horse and galloping away without a word.

"I'll lead you as far as I can; from there you'll have to follow my directions." Kim said before taking off. Shego rode fast behind her.